The present invention is directed, in general, to communications systems and, more specifically, to systems and methods for providing an Intelligent Network (IN) service to transparently establish a mid-call conference using a Mobile Station (MS), without requiring an intermediate hold state of an existing call connection between the MS and a second telephony device.
The world is currently experiencing revolutionary changes in communications systems, brought about, in part, by the general availability of access to, and evolution of, wireless telephony systems. It has been predicted that wireless telephony will eventually replace much of the existing wireline telephony systems; the period during which that will occur, however, is likely to be a function of the ability of wireless telephony systems to provide the features that subscribers have come to expect from wireline systems, including the availability of advanced Intelligent Network (IN) services.
Intelligent Network (IN) services refers generally to a collection of services offered to telephony system subscribers on a pre-subscribed basis, such as Calling Number Delivery, Calling Number Blocking, Customer Originated Trace, Automatic Recall, Automatic Callback, Selective Call Forwarding, Selective Call Waiting, Selective Call Rejection, and Selective Call Acceptance. The collection of IN services is continually growing, however, as telecommunications system engineers devise both improved and novel systems and processes for providing advanced services. Although IN services often can be easily implemented in wireline networks, the implementation of IN services in wireless telecommunications systems can present unique challenges due to limitations of such systems.
One popular IN service is call conferencing; as used herein, a xe2x80x9cconferencexe2x80x9d is the simultaneous connection of three or more parties in voice communication, and xe2x80x9cconferencingxe2x80x9d refers to the process used to establish a conference. In conventional telephony systems, a conference setup process requires one party to a call to place the second party to the call on xe2x80x9chold,xe2x80x9d establish a second call connection to a third party, and then join the second party by taking such party off hold; the conferencing process can be repeated to further join additional parties. The need to place one or more parties on hold while conferencing additional parties is often undesirable, however, particularly in wireless telecommunications systems.
If it is necessary to place a call party or parties on hold in order to conference a third party, the existing call participants are unable to continue a conversation during the process of conferencing the third party. In a wireless system, a user of a wireless telephony device will incur additional air-time charges during such hold period. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for systems and methods for providing an Intelligent Network (IN) service to transparently establish a mid-call conference without requiring an intermediate hold state.
To address the above-discussed deficiencies of the prior art, the present invention provides systems and methods related to providing an Intelligent Network (IN) service to transparently establish a mid-call conference using a Mobile Station (MS), without requiring an intermediate hold state of an existing call connection between the MS and a second telephony device.
Using an exemplary method described in detail hereinafter, the IN service is implemented by: i) monitoring for the transmission of dialed digits over a control channel associated with a MS; the dialed digits identifying a third telephony device; ii) establishing a call connection to the third telephony device; and iii) joining the third telephony device in conference with an existing call connection between the MS and a second telephony device, thereby establishing a conference call between the MS and the first and second telephony devices without requiring an intermediate hold state of the existing call connection.
The monitoring operation can be performed by a Mobile-services Switching Center (MSC). In such embodiments, the monitoring operation is preferably preceded by querying a Home Location Register (HLR) for subscriber information associated with the MS; the subscriber information identifies whether the IN service is to be provided to the MS. If the IN service is to be provided, the MSC sends an IN service activation request to a Service Control Point (SCP). The SCP responds by sending PromptandCollect_User_Information command to the MSC; the command instructs the MSC to monitor a control channel associated with the MS for the transmission of dialed digits from the MS. Upon receiving dialed digits on the control channel, the MSC sends an acknowledgment message to the SCP; the acknowledgment message includes the dialed digits received over the control channel associated with the MS.
The operation to establish a call connection to the third telephony device can be controlled by the SCP using a resident Service Control Function (SCF). In an exemplary embodiment, the SCF sends a request to the MSC to establish a call connection to the third telephony device; the request includes the dialed digits. The MSC can use a resident Service Switching Function (SSF) to establish the call connection. Upon establishing the call connection to the third telephony device, the SSF then performs the operation of joining the third telephony device in conference with the existing call connection between the MS and the second telephony device.
The foregoing has outlined, rather broadly, the principles of the present invention so that those skilled in the art may better understand the detailed description of the exemplary embodiments that follow. Those skilled in the art should appreciate that they can readily use the disclosed conception and exemplary embodiments as a basis for designing or modifying other structures and methods for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. Those skilled in the art should also realize that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention in its broadest form.